Tech/tutorial: 1 Hour Of Humminbird Photography, 38 Unedited Photos
Inspired by a recent discussion on avian photography, I just wrote a web "booklet", of sorts, 38 pages of 38 raw unedited shots from one hour of hummingbird photography, discussing my techniques for high speed flash, which are adaptable to "regular" bird feeder photo techniques as well. If you read the titles/captions You'll see topics on pre-focusing with a tripod, use of a macro, high speed flash, specific camera settings (Manual focus, autofocus, ETTL, manual exposure settings, and so on.) The main point, not really stated explicitly, is to get as close as you can to fill the frame with the bird.
Each of the 38 web pages has a large image, which if you click on it, appears alone in your web browser. Click again, and you can see the image full resolution.
There are 2 forms of editing" about maybe 8 or so images were total misses, and don't appear in my archives. Also, the images are all grossly watermarked. It's not artistic, per se, but it is perhaps an excellent tutorial. The techniques can easily be adapted to bird feeder photography, as well. The hour includes warts, wrinkles, sensor dust, not quite in focus, and out of frame photos to show how with persistence, you CAN get good photos of hummingbirds if you get close. No secrets, nothing held back. The emphasis is on flash technique, framing, focus, and preparing your feeder and setup to maximize your shot percentage. The star of the series is the rare (in the USA) Lucifer hummingbird.
One hour of unedited hummingbird photography: 38 Unedited photos, full resolution images included.
This may be a prototype for a chapter in an e-book, so if you have any comments on the presentation and text, I'd like to hear them. Thank you
Actually, I have a day with over 1000 shots, virtually every one publication quality, but that would have taken too long to write up in this form, even for just an hour. I'm re-editing that day's photos, and will publish in a non-tutorial form. I found I had only published about 4 of the images, or so.
